I’m joinin’ in with Kimberly of Caffeinated Reviewer on Sundays to talk about anything new, to share what books have been read &/or have come in, and a heads up on what’s coming up next. I figure since I’m always prepping my book post on Sunday to publish in the wee hours of Monday, why not link up with her meme first?

And of course I will also link up with It’s Monday! What are you reading? hosted by Kathryn of The Book Date later on today. Kathryn took over this weekly, Monday meme from Shelia of Book Journey who had taken it over from J Kayne Book Blog. This meme is not just about adult books either. If you read picture and chapter books, juvenile fiction, or even YA, they count as well. Jen Vincent of Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee of Unleashing Readers give this Monday, book post link up a kid-focus.

The Dillio

My burns are finally toughening up. Stupid me forgot I had heated up the baking sheet for the chopped vegetables. I had placed it on the stove with gloves, poured the seasoned veggies on, and then did something else. I then grabbed the sheet with unprotected hands! I got an mild, arc of a blister on my left palm and on the right it was just a little bit. Oh boy did they feel like they were burning time to time even though I ran them under cool tap water and used an ice pack. I took Tylenol for the pain at night.

So because I had burns, I skipped the elliptical and decided to finally try out the Instant Pot my mum had given us for CNY. We ended up having a late dinner as I first tested it out to steam water as the booklet had suggested. I then tried out a BBQ recipe for boneless chicken thighs that took a while to pressurize, maybe because I had double the amount of meat that was required? I also broiled the thighs afterwards but didn’t go through the extra steps of thickening the sauce + brush and broil the thighs a few times. We were hungry and just wanted to eat by then. It’s definitely a handy contraption. I’ll have to play around with it more as my girls want jook.

Sewing continued to be the dominant craft all week. It had its ups and downs, one big snafu mentioned already. However, that’s what learning’s about, yeah? It’s never going to be all unicorns and rainbows.I was waiting all year for May the 4th to come around as Must Stash Yarn sells her Star Wars-inspired sock yarn (Yoda, Boba Fet, etc.) that self-stripes. When the day rolled around, I ended up changing my mind. Although I grew up with Star Wars and love the classic trio of movies, I find myself to be a bigger, Harry Potter nerd so I told myself I have enough sock yarn in the closet.
While I had refrained from clicking away that morning, I did have some spending fun at Joann Friday afternoon. I picked out and bought fabric for a skirt pattern that I want to make after I wrap up about the quartet of flannel. I’m excited and a little nervous because I’ll be learning some new skills.

Saturday was a nice, relaxing day. I got to sleep in and did my duty by the elliptical. The youngest went off to a birthday party where she got to eat waffles and tacos after crafting a tote bag and a necklace. Her older sister hung out with the neighbor’s son, trying out his ICEE machine and jumping on his trampoline. I promised the husband turkey bacon, breakfast sausages, and eggs so his belly was happy and full during lunch. We had simple tacos for dinner – browned, ground beef with black beans and taco mix mixed in along with shredded Mexican cheese and sliced olives.

“Books: a beautifully browsable invention that needs no electricity and exists in a readable form no matter what happens.”
― Nicholson Baker

I think it’s intriguing to imagine a lighthouse as a library. I wonder if one exists in real life? One thing I liked about this cozy mystery was that the plot stayed relevant to the book and to the lighthouse library. I even liked the staff of the library.

However, the compliance of Lucy’s personality got on my nerves at times. I don’t know if the narrator of this audiobook was told to read her that way or the narrator’s voice was normally monotone. There weren’t really outstanding events that made me blink in surprise. There were some high emotions but nothing that had me emotionally invested in this story.

What I really would have liked if the women of the staff banded together to put their heads together to figure out what was going on. It was alluded to but nothing major as the main focus was on Lucy. Honestly, I don’t know if I’ll be interested in continuing this series. Two stars. This was seventh audiobook I’ve listened to so far this 2018; crap, I’ve forgotten the target number of this format I had challenged myself to. Do you remember what I said on the old blog?

This Kindle book is listed in four genres on Goodreads. I say it pretty much hit each one although the attraction between O’Hare and Fox is slowly being built.

I found it clever how this pair of authors came up with the idea to have a FBI Agent and a con artist work together on undercover cons for the government. The crew they got together to help them out are fun characters who are just hittin’ their stride.

This is the book I read while sweatin’ out the toxins in the garage. I laughed at the snark and fist bumped O’Hare’s dad every time he made an appearance. He is a background character but what a ham and a gem he is:

From page 68…

“How many ways could you kill a man with an eyebrow tweezer?”

“Sixteen,” Jake said.

Kate looked at him in surprise. She’d thought her sister was just being a smart-ass, a quality they both shared. “Really?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“Will you teach me?”

“Wouldn’t be much of a father if I didn’t,” he said.

From page 92…

Kate sighed with resignation. “Okay, fine, I guess I’ll just have to be satisfied knowing that I was the one that got him.”

“Welcome to my life. Most of my career was made up of missions like that. To this day, very few people know what I’ve done.”

She opened a beer and took a sip. “You’d really go all the way to Greece, and run a covert operation again, just so I can have the satisfaction of capturing Nick Fox?”

What are you up to today? Before working on this post I made the husband set up the tripod so we could take a picture of my sewing FO. I’ll be working on that post next while heating up some tea. I have laundry to do, something Mad Eye Moody would be disappointed in me for not keeping constant vigilance. Then I have a zipper pouch to work on for a special friend.

gosh! be careful with the speed and I do hope you heal quickly!! I’m reading The Brothers Karamazov and it’s going pretty good. I’m happy with the read. Also I’m on book 7 (?) of the Gamache series. A Trick of the Light–also delightful.

I hope your hand heals up soon! I burnt a couple of fingers the other day, when I went to set a plate down on the ceramic cooktop and didn’t realize my husband had cooked something on that side. So I sympathize.

I see you’re a fellow knitter! It’s always fun to find other bloggers who knit and read and blog about both. Not that I’ve had much time for knitting or pleasure reading recently. Hopefully I can get back to both soon.

Ouch. Sadly I have done the same. If I could smack myself over it I would. Lol. I hope your hands feel better very soon.
Right now I am trying to recover after the 7 year old’s birthday party. Kids had a blast. My head, back and feet hurt 😉

Ah ouch for those burns, horrible, glad they are almost healed. Ooo I love the sound of that last book, yes a minor snarky character is perfect. Books that have monotone narrators are the pits. When I got back home I had to mow the lawns so just a little sewing done. Off to dentist this am for regular check up.

Sorry about the burns! We don’t have an instapot. We tend to avoid kitchen gadgets because we never have anywhere to put them. Your Eva Gates book made me curious to see if there is finally a new one in that series coming out and there is! Yay. What am I reading?

I’m sorry about your burn but glad it’s getting better! I managed to forget the size of my oven and bumped my bare hand against the side of the oven as I was making Thanksgiving dinner. I was not happy! That interesting about the Eva Gates series. I have that one but haven’t read it yet. The monotone voice of the narrator would annoy me and the fact that the library staff doesn’t work together seems like such a missed opportunity. Hope you’re having a great week!